The characters belong to JE. I receive nothing from this, but it sure is fun. May contain spoilers to the Wicked series.

Chapter 17

Diesel's POV

I was on my way back to Trenton in my silver Porsche Turbo. I have to admit that I was pretty proud of myself since I caught my unmentionable skip in less than 48 hours. It was one of the easy assignments I ever had. I have to admit that it was kind of nice to search for someone that didn't have a connection to the SALIGIA stones. It was also nice to not have to deal with my cousin, Wulf.

I was almost to Trenton when I got a call from Simone from the Special Circumstances Division at headquarters.

"Hello, Darling. Miss me already?" I teased.

"Absolutely not! Do you remember when I told you that I would deny helping you if anything went wrong with your little switching project?" She asked.

"Of course. I even left notes to remind the guys to be extra careful and not to take any chances that could cause either of them to get hurt." I replied. "Why?"

"I swear, Diesel. Whenever I agree to help with any of your little side projects, it always leads to trouble. I should have known better than to agree to this. If this gets anymore FUBAR, I'll deny I had any knowledge of the switch." Simone complained.

"What's the problem?" I asked.

'Out of curiosity, would either of the guys be the type that generally doesn't like being told what to do?" Simone asked.

"One of the guys is a know-it-all cop and the other is a former Army Ranger. What do you think?" I asked.

"I was afraid of that. It looks like we may have a problem." Simone told me.

"What kind of a problem?" I asked. If something went wrong, Stephanie is going to want to kill me.

"I overheard someone in the break room mention that you were sent on an emergency call to New York. I decided to send one of the new agents to Trenton to monitor the situation. I thought that it couldn't hurt to have a set of eyes on the situation since you had to leave town." Simone explained.

Normally I would be offended that someone was sent to check up on my work, but since this involved Stephanie, it probably was a good idea. Things have a tendency to get out of hand whenever she's involved. Don't get me wrong, most of the time it's not her fault, but she's a magnet for trouble.

"Anyway," Simone continued. "I just received a call from Pulse."

"You sent Pulse to check up on my work? That little twerp only completed training less than a month ago. He can't handle a city like Trenton. It's a hot bed of unmentionable activity." I complained. Pulse's real name is Michael Day. He's sort of like a human lie detector. Whenever someone lies it causes a slight spike in their pulse rate, hence the nickname.

"You're missing the point, Diesel. I didn't send him until this morning. By the time he arrived in Trenton, it was already too late." Simone explained.

"What was too late?" I asked, knowing that whatever the answer, it wouldn't be good.

"Apparently, that female bounty hunter friend of yours went to pick up one of her FTAs at a local bank. A few minutes after she entered the bank, a motorcycle gang attempted to rob it. Both of your guys insisted on being part of the rescue. One of your guys was shot and rushed to the hospital. I should have known better than to help you." Simone grumbled.

Yep, I was right. This isn't good. "If you sent Pulse this morning, why are you just calling me with this information now?" I asked.

"I called you as soon as I got off the phone with Pulse. Trust me, I've already read him the riot act for waiting so long to call me." Simone said.

"So which one was shot and did he survive?" I grimaced.

"Pulse didn't give me a name. The hospital is trying to keep everything on the down low. He's working on finding out which one was hurt right now. He stole a uniform and is posing as an orderly at St. Francis Hospital. He's hoping that he can ease drop and learn some more information." Simone explained. "As of right now all we know that your guy survived, but he hasn't been able to find out if his heart stopped at any point."

"Why would his heart stopping be an issue? He's alive, so there shouldn't be any issues." I reasoned.

"Are you kidding me? I know that we don't do these type of switches very often, but you've been with the agency long enough to know the consequences. If someone heart stops at some point during the switch, it means that they technically died. It doesn't matter if it's for a few minutes or a few seconds. Dead is still dead, even if they were able to revive him. If one of their hearts stops, it can prevent them from ever switching back." Simone explained.

"Wait a minute. I want to make sure that I understand this. They could be stuck in each other's bodies permanently?" I asked.

"You got it! Give the man a prize!" Simone said sarcastically.

I ended the call and threw my phone in the passenger seat. The powers that be should have sent Pulse to pick up this skip instead of me. Maybe if I had stayed in Trenton I could have prevented this, or a least help rescue Stephanie. Sometimes management forgets what it's like to work in the field. Instead of doing things the easy way, they always want to follow the proper channels, which creates more work for me.

I pulled into the parking lot at St. Francis Hospital. It was after visiting hours when I entered the hospital. I knew the quickest way of finding out where to go would be flirting with a hot little nurse. I quickly spotted a petit redhead with just the right amount of curves in all the right places. It didn't take me long to find out the floor and room number I needed.

As soon as I stepped off the elevator I spotted Pulse smiling as he shook hands with the Bobby Brown, the Rangeman medic. As I walked up, Bobby nodded to me as he left, choosing to take the stairs instead of the elevator.

"It looked like you and Brown are old friends." I commented. "How do you know him?"

" Bobby? He's some type of distant cousin. Our grandmother's were sisters. I haven't seen him since our family reunion, about five years ago. I didn't even know he lived in Trenton now. Small world, huh?" Pulse grinned.

"Does he have any idea what's going on?" I asked.

"He realizes that something weird is going on, but he's not sure what it is. He's been here taking care of the Bounty Hunter chick. I think Bobby said her name was Stephanie. She hasn't said a much of anything since she got here. The only reason he's leaving now is because his boss left, he told him to go home and get some rest." Pulse explained. "That was a couple of hours ago. He didn't want to leave Stephanie here alone, but she finally convinced him that she would be alright."

"That wasn't his boss." I told him.

"Yeah, I kind of figured that." He smiled.

"So Morelli was the one shot? Has his family caused any problems?" I asked.

"His mom and grandmother were here earlier. A couple of local cops convinced them to go home and get some rest after the grandmother threatened to put 'the eye' on Stephanie. She blames Stephanie for getting her grandson shot." Pulse explained. "I'm beat. You need me to stick around?"

"Go get some rest, but stay in Trenton. I may need you to use your ability on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum if they haven't got their act together." I told him.

"You got it. Call me if you need me. I'm going back to my hotel and get some rest. See ya tomorrow." Pulse said heading towards the elevator.

When I reached the hospital room, I opened the door and said, "Knock, knock." I didn't was to actually knock on the door, since Manoso was probably resting.

"Diesel!" Stephanie quietly exclaimed, as she stood up and walked over to greet me. "I can't decide if I want to strangle you or hug you."

"I vote for the hug." I said wrapping my arms around her.

"How did you know we were at the hospital?" She asked.

"I got a call from headquarters." I explained.

"Now that you're here, can you switch us back?" Manoso asked.

"Yeah, Ranger and I need to talk and I'd rather not do it while he's in Joe's body." Stephanie chimed in.

"We need to talk about that, but first I need to ask you some questions." I told Manoso. "First, have you and Morelli learned anything from this experience?"

"Morelli and I have come to an understanding." Manoso nodded.

"Good, at least something good came out of all of this." I said, leaning against the hospital wall. "Second, I need to know if your heart stopped at any point after you were shot." I asked Manoso.

"I'm not sure. Why?" He replied. "Babe, did the doctor say anything about restarting my heart?'

"I was so upset that I really can't remember what the doctor said to me." Stephanie explained, before turning to me. "Why would it matter? The doctor said that he expects Ranger to make a full recovery. Well, actually he said Joe instead of Ranger, but you know what I mean."

"I want to state for the record that I left a note for you and Joe, reminding you to be careful. I also told both of you if something bad happened to either of you the switch could become permanent." I said to Manoso.

"Are you trying to tell us that because Ranger was shot while he was in Joe's body that they can't switch back now?" Stephanie asked on the verge of tears.

"Simone said that it would only be a problem if his heart stopped." I explained.

"Babe, calm down. It'll be okay." Manoso said, motioning for her to sit on the hospital bed so he could wrap his uninjured arm around her.

"But what if you and Joe can't switch back? What about Rangeman? What about your family? They won't know who you are." Stephanie said with tears streaming down her face. "You won't be able to go 'in the wind' anymore. I know that you love the adrenaline rush that you get when you go on missions."

'We'll figure everything out. We don't know if my heart stopped or not. There may be nothing to worry about." He told her. "And as far as going 'in the wind', it shouldn't be an issue. I wanted to wait to discuss this with you when I was back in my own body, but that part of my life is over. I've fulfilled my contract." Manoso explained.

"No more going 'in the wind'?" Stephanie asked.

"No more 'in the wind'." Manoso grinned. "But we can discuss this more later. Right now we need to find out if my heart stopped in the ambulance or during surgery."

"Should we call Bobby?" Stephanie asked. "He talked to the doctor for me after your surgery. The doctor might have told him."

"Babe, I think that we should ask one the nurses instead of Bobby. If we call Bobby now he'll want to know why we need to know in the middle of the night. I'd rather not explain to him why we need to know. He might suggest that we need to tour the pysch ward." Manoso explained.

Manoso pushed the button to call the nurse's station. A few seconds later an older woman wearing a nurse's uniform walked in carrying a chart

"How can I help you, Mr. Morelli? Do you need something for the pain?" She asked.

"No. I prefer to not take pain killers if I can help it. I actually have a question that I would like answered. Does my file say if my heart stopped at any point on the ambulance ride over here or during my surgery?" He asked.

"Let's see." The nursed looked over his chart. "It says here that your heart stopped at one point during surgery. The doctor was preparing to shock you, but before he did your heart began beating on its own again. Are you sure that you don't need something for the pain. You just turned white as a sheet."

"No, no pain killers." He replied.

"Anything else, Mr. Morelli?" The nurse asked.

"No, you were very helpful. Thank you."

"I'll be back to check on you in about an hour. If you change your mind about something for pain, let me know." She said, before exiting the room.

"Does this mean that Ranger is stuck in Joe's body forever?" Stephanie asked.

"I refuse to accept that as an answer. I think that I'll pop into headquarters see if I can pull some strings, maybe call in a few favors. There has to be someone that can help straighten all this out. Don't give up hope." I told her. "I'll call or come by when I have something figured out."

"Diesel, fix this." Stephanie pleaded.

"Anything for you, Sunshine." I promised.